Each and every NFL team relies on its fans to survive. Without fans at the games, teams don't sell tickets, concessions or stadium advertising. Without fans rooting from home, teams don't get wealthy local radio and television deals. It's true that NFL teams enjoy a cut of rich league-wide revenue streams like national television deals, but the local fans remain a core revenue driver. In fact, the average NFL team generated 43% of team revenue from local sources.

Teams in larger markets like Chicago, Dallas, Houston and New York obviously generate more local revenue than those in smaller metro areas, so it seemed pointless to list the teams that simply have the fortune of playing in the nation's most populous cities. Rather, we sought to determine the NFL's most valuable fans on a per capita basis, dividing each team's local revenue by the local metro population; in the cases of the New York teams (Jets and Giants) and Bay Area teams (49ers and Raiders), we allocated half of the metro population to each team. Local revenue is considered any team income not attributable to national or league-wide revenues, and it includes components like tickets, concessions, advertising, sponsorships and local media deals.

The Green Bay Packers stand well ahead of the field, generating a massive $390 per local fan, well above the league average of $50 per fan. The team's per-fan success is skewed so high because the team plays in the league's smallest metro area, comprised of just 310,000 residents. The Packers' local population is 7% the size of the league's average metro area. But the small population isn't the only contributing factor to the Packers' top spot. Green Bay generated about $121 million in local revenue, good for tenth-most in the league and the third-most of any team on our list, highlighting that NFL teams can thrive in smaller metro areas. Closely following the Packers are other small market teams like the Saints ($85 in local revenue per fan), Bills ($74), Titans ($67) and Jaguars ($58).

Though two NFC teams lead our list, the AFC makes up its bulk: seven of the 11 teams (there is a three-way tie for ninth) are from the AFC. The AFC's success is mostly due to the conference's smaller market sizes; the average AFC metro area is comprised of 3.9 million people, compared to the NFC's 5 million, which includes Green Bay. The AFC also has the most valuable fans across the league as a whole, with the average conference team generating $44 per fan. While NFC teams brought in an average $56 per local fan, that number drops to just $34 when the Packers are omitted.

Population isn't everything, though. The Cowboys rank eighth on our list with $53 in revenue per fan last season despite playing in the league's third-largest metro area. Dallas has been the NFL's most valuable team since 2007, and this year it became just the second professional sports team behind Manchester United to cross the $2 billion mark. The Cowboys generated $500 million in revenue last season, with a staggering $345 million coming from local sources.

Another large market team to make the cut is the New England Patriots, who tied with the Browns and Chiefs for the final spot on our list with $49 in revenue per fan. The Pats, who play in the league's tenth-largest market, generated $225 million in local revenue, second behind only Dallas.